My Restaurant Week adventure is over for this summer and I’m overjoyed with all my choices. Each of the three restaurants treated us like valued guests. Each provided a menu that didn’t look like a list of second-rate choices. And each, in its own way, was exceptional.

Park Avenue Summer was beautiful. The menu was inventive. The serviced was attentive. And the portions were large. My salmon tartar was an enormous log of the freshest salmon and tomatoes over a creamy foam. The herb grilled chicken was tender, juicy and also huge. The accompanying pasta formed mysterious closed loops. What made the experience extraordinary for me was that, even though I had mistakenly given my companion the wrong time, the maitre d’ assured me that we would be seated no matter how late she arrived. And, since by the nest Restaurant Week, this will be Park Avenue Winter – a whole new restaurant – I can go back without breaking my “no repeats” rule.

My dinner at Butter was also wonderful. The service was cheerful but uneven. The excellence of the food more than compensated for any service lapses, though. Zucchini blossoms were greaseless, crisp, filled with wonderfully sharp cheese, and accompanied by two beautifully grilled slices of summer squash and a puree of curried winter squash. The cavatappi pasta with spicy lamb sausage and yellow tomato sauce had a flavor so intense – and delicious – that I came very close to licking the plate. My companion’s cod was moist and flaky and nestled in a bed of an equally incredible sauce. We both sat there grinning. 

My final choice for the week was Centro Vinoteca. Every inch of this tiny restaurant is used in such a way that the space seems much larger than it is. Although we lingered well after all the other lunch guests were gone, no one rushed us in any way. We both started with a selection of piccolini. The zucchini fritters melted in my mouth. The conversation was so intense that all I can remember about the main course is that it was delicious. When both of us indicated that we didn’t want the remaining desert selection on the Restaurant Week menu, our server found an excellent alternative for us. I finished lunch with some of the best coffee I’ve ever had – and it was accompanied by warm milk – a touch appreciated by even me (I never touch the stuff).

What all three restaurants had in common was the ability to impress us. Coach Thomas Leonard often said, “Under-promise and over-deliver.” That’s exactly what I experienced this week.